CFO Patronis: Five Additional US&R Teams Deployed to Florida

Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis announced that five more Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) Teams are being deployed to Florida, for a total of 16 teams that are working lifesaving missions related to Hurricane Ian. The newly deployed teams include New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Missouri, and Massachusetts. The deployed contingent will add to Florida’s six US&R Teams and five teams from other states, including two Virginia teams, and ones from Texas, Ohio and Indiana.

CFO Jimmy Patronis said, “Once fully deployed, we’ll have over 1,000 Urban Search and Rescue personnel in theater, which is simply unprecedented. We’ve also got additional firefighting teams that are deployed to work missions and support fire stations that are currently offline. As power comes on, there will be fires, so we’ve got tender trucks carrying up to 10,000 gallons of water from the rural portions of the state that are prepared to battle inevitable fires. Hurricane Ian was devastating for many of our Southwest Florida communities, and these heroes are the best-of-the-best when it comes to saving lives.”

The US&R teams have completed nearly 1,000 human interactions, which is defined as a breadth of engagements by US&R team members including providing lifesaving care and facilitating evacuations. The teams have also completed over 28,000 assessments of damaged structures. With additional deployed firefighting support teams, there are over 1,300 personnel being coordinated through the State Fire Marshal’s Office.   

###

About CFO Jimmy Patronis 
Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis is a statewide elected official and a member of Florida’s Cabinet who oversees the Department of Financial Services. CFO Patronis works each day to fight insurance fraud, support Florida’s firefighters, and ensure the state’s finances are stable to support economic growth in the state. Follow the activities of the Department on Facebook (FLDFS) and X (@FLDFS).